How are we dealing with this period of uncertainty?

I hope everyone is staying safe as we all deal with coronavirus. We’re obviously living through an unprecedented time, which brings a lot of uncertainty. I unfortunately have no better prognostication abilities than you all, but did want to share a few of my thoughts:

1. This is first and foremost a public health issue and should be prioritized as such. If you need to do anything for your own health and safety or the health and safety of loved ones, that should come first, and as I said to M1 employees, well ahead of anything work-related. Seemingly the best thing most of us can do at this current point in time is not contribute to the problem. We can do that by staying indoors and away from others. We’re all in this together, so please do your part.
2. The coronavirus has brought a lot of health and economic uncertainty. The market, which is really just a group of people, hates uncertainty and we’re seeing that play out with large drops and the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates. With uncertainty, the worst case scenario is still on the table and people have to give it mind space. My hope and guess is we’ll take decisive action towards attacking both vectors, health and economic uncertainty, and things will improve. I think the short-term will be wild and volatile until more certainty comes. A year from now, I have confidence that life looks more like it did a month ago than what we’re going through now.
3. The market and interest rates dropping are (hopefully temporary) headwinds. Many things are out of our control, and we have to play the hand we’re dealt. We’re working on a business that thinks and helps people long-term, and given any length of time we’ll go through turbulent times like these. People need great money management tools now and will for the rest of time. The best thing we can do with respect to M1 is focus on the things in our control and continue working to improve our platform and company. On the bright side, we’re having record sign up and deposit days, things that will help M1 when things bounce back in our favor. We grew before, we’re growing during, and we’ll continue to grow when all of this has passed.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Stay well,

Brian Barnes

M1 Founder and CEO